2011 — DIARY OF A CINEPHILE

By: Daniel S.

JANUARY

24 films. 4 old German movies, 5 Ettore Scolas, 3 recent French movies and two Criterions : so much for the chosen domains. Only three films have really enthused me during this month. Carl Boese’s Der Golem and Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari which, thanks of the power of their images, are still haunting me. Now, even if I’m maybe the only one to appreciate it, The Gathering, seen for the second time, keeps a place of choice in my library. Its main theme, there are cursed people who, during the course of time, always gather when there’s a tragedy occurring, deeply touches me. i don’t know why.

As I’m convinced that one has to see a film several times in order to give a valid opinion about it, I gave a second chance to Seven, Darkman, Madmax beyond Thunderdome and In the Mood of Love.

FEBRUARY

19 movies. I’ve been lucky this month, I saw five masterpieces. First of all, André de Toth’s Day of the Outlaw which is a symphony in black & white accentuated by Alexandre Courage’s funeral marches. Then Ivan Passer’s Born to Win, a film about a loser played by an astonishing George Segal. Everybody, at least I hope so, will agree with me that George Miller’s Mad Max, Sergio Leone’s Once upon a time in the West and Pixar’s Up also belong to this special club of movies you can see again and again without being disappointed. At last, a special mention to Ben Affleck’s The Town which should have been a nominee for the 2011 Academy awards.

MARCH

34 movies. Intrigued by the quality of Bryan Forbes’s The Whisperers, I decided early march to check the production of the English director and saw Whistle Down the Wind, The L-Shaped Room, Seance on a Wet Afternoon, King Rat, The Wrong Box and Deadfall in a row. There are little jewels here and I strongly recommend to those of you who ever read this to give a chance to these movies. Among the other movies that didn’t disappoint me were also Maïwenn’s All About Actresses, Ivan Passer’s Law and Disorder, Dennis Donnelly’s The Toolbox murders, Frank Miller’s Sin City , Léa Fehner’s Silent Voice, Clint Eastwood’s Invictus and Zabou Breitman’s Someone I loved. Major deception : David Fincher’s The Social Network.

APRIL

15 movies only because of deserved holidays. Two masterpieces: Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon and Grigori Chukhrai’s Ballad of a Soldier. The good surprise of the month is André de Toth’s Play Dirty, the last film of the director.

MAY

29 movies. Good month. Four masterpieces: Serge Bromberg’s Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno, Sydney Pollack’s The Way We Were, Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic and Elia Kazan’s A Streetcar Named Desire. A few discoveries like Robert Parrish’s Saddle the Wind, Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo and Mauro Bolognini’s The Big Night.

JUNE

34 movies. Four masterpieces again : Zhang Yimou’s The Curse of the Golden Flower, Brian De Palma’s Blow Out, David Gordon Green’s George Washington and John Hillcoat’s The Road. I went on with André De Toths’ films and liked a lot The Indian Fighter and Monkey on my Back. Other moments of sheer pleasure were provided by Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married and Tetro, Alfred Hitchcock’s Family Plot and Ronald Neame’s The Horse’s Mouth.

JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER and OCTOBER

126 movies. A few masterpieces : The Coen’s True Grit, Mauro Bolognini’s Bubu, Nicholas Ray’s Wind Across the Everglades, Luigi Comencini’s Misunderstood, Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee, Basil Dearden’s Victim, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bleeder and Pusher III, Michael Curtiz’s Mystery of the Wax Museum, James Gray’s We Own the Night and The Yards, Michael Ritchie’s Prime Cut, Richard C. Sarafian’s Man in the Wilderness, Mathieu Amalric’s On Tour, Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz and John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye.